Slow Way Home : Unit I

Slow Way Home: Unit I Lesson 2 Slow Way Home Chapter 2 Brainstorming Memories Milinda Jay, Ph. D

For teachers only • Please see notes on slides 2,5,10,22,23,25,31 and 32 • First formative grade assignment: homework on slide 33. • You might explain to students that each homework assignment and several of the in class assignments will be formative grades that will earn a check plus, check, check minus or zero based on the quality of the work. • Be certain that students begin saving their stories in a notebook. You might want to make a special place in the classroom to keep the notebooks.

Retell what happened • In Chapter 1 of Slow Way Home • Each students take a turn saying one sentence about what happened in Chapter 1.

Now, predict • what might happen in Chapter 2.

Today’s Writing • We will brainstorm a personal experience

Sunshine State Standard we will cover today: • Subject Area: Reading/Language Arts • Strand: Writing Process • Standard 1: Prewriting • LA.910.3.1.1: The student will prewrite by generating ideas from multiple sources based upon teacher-directed topics and personal interests

Sunshine State Standard • Subject Area: Reading/Language Arts • Strand: Writing Process • Standard 1: Prewriting • LA.910.3.1.3 The student will prewrite by using organizational strategies and tools to develop a personal organizational style

FCAT Writing Objectives To organize personal life experiences and the life experiences of others into functional evidence To develop voice

Teacher Component • To create a unique learning community by writing with your students • To model the process of writing for students with the understanding that teachers have to write drafts, too! • To donate to the learning community by sharing your experiences and those of your family/friends through memoir

Guided Brainstorming • Take out a sheet of paper • Respond to each of the questions I ask in as much detail as possible • I will be writing my answers as you write yours

Think of a time • When an adult treated you unfairly

Think of a time • That you took a trip you really did not want to take

Think of • Something kind an adult has done for you

Think of a trip • You took that you were really looking forward to

Think of a person • Who makes you feel safe

Describe • This person who makes you feel safe

Think of an adult • Who makes you feel loved. Describe him or her.

Describe • What it is about this person that makes you feel loved. • Describe a time that you spent with the person

Think of something • Really nice that an adult did for you once. Describe what happened.

Describe • What how you felt or what you thought when an adult did something really nice for you

Now, take a moment • To read everything you have just written.

Circle the three • Topics you brainstormed that you like the most, • Or, circle the three that you think you have more you could say about

Now, • Pair up with the person next to you or behind you. • As soon as everyone has a partner, we will move on to the next step of the prewriting process.

Tell your partner • About one of the experiences you described in the brainstorming, preferably one that you circled.

Now • Write down the story you just told your partner. • Be certain to give your story a beginning, a middle and an end, just as you did when you were telling the story. • Write for ten minutes. Don’t stop writing. If you think you are finished, go back and fill in details—colors, sounds, smells, what things felt like.

At the end of ten minutes • Look at the paragraph on page 14 of Slow Way Home that begins with • “Oh me,” Nana said… • Look at Morris’s use of description in this paragraph. What can you see? What can you feel? • Now, go back to your story, and see if you can add one more description.

After the ten minutes are up • Turn back to your partner, and read your story aloud to him or her.

After reading your story aloud • Try simply telling the story to your partner

After telling your story • What else could you add to the story to make it more interesting? • Make a note to yourself.

Your learning style and your writing style • Some of you feel better about your writing if you can just have some time alone to think about it and write it all down. • Some of you feel better about your writing once you talked it out with a partner. • It all depends on your preferred learning style.

The important thing • Is to figure out which technique works best for you: • Once you have a draft written, does it help you to talk it out with someone? If so, then talk it out! • Once you have a draft written, would you rather go back and perfect it rather than “talking it out?”

The most important thing • You can learn during this unit is which prewriting strategy, which drafting strategy, which writing strategies work best for you, and begin using them.

Homework • Take your story home, add the details that you made a note about that you needed to add, and then read it aloud to a parent, a grandparent, aunt, uncle or family friend. • As him/her if he/she has a similar story. If not, ask him/her to tell you about an adult in his/her life who made them feel loved, or a time when he/she knew more than the adults around him/her thought. Write down his/her story.

Notebook • Now is the time to create a notebook for your stories. • You will need a ½ inch binder or a plastic folder with brads and pockets. • Each day you will be adding at least one story to your notebook, either a personal story of your own, or one you have gathered from friend and family. • The notebook will stay in the classroom in a special place that your teacher designates.

Teacher • You do the homework, too! We want to hear your story tomorrow as well!

Read Aloud • Chapter 2 of Slow Way Home

Slow Way Home : Unit I